Tandem rotor helicopter



Feb. 24, 1953 A. B. CROSHERE, JR., ET AL 2,

TANDEM ROTOR HELICOPTER Filed Aug. 10, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet. l

Feb. 24, 1953 A. B. CROSHERE, JR, ET AL 2,629,568

TANDEM ROTOR HELICOPTER I Filed Aug. 10, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fb. 24, 1953 A. B. CROSHERE, JR, ET AL 2,629,563

TANDEM ROTOR HELICOPTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 10, 1946 55; W2 y ,MFMW 5 5c M 5%; W t} w Afm F I Z 45 Patented Feb. 24, 1953 TANDEM ROTOR HELICOPTER Austin B. Croshere, Jr., and Schuyler Kleinhans, Santa Monica, and. Carlos 0. Wood, Brentwood Heights, West Los Angeles, Calif., assignors to Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., Santa Monica,

Calif.

Application August 10, 1946, Serial No. 689,636

9 Claims. '1

This invention relates to aircraft sustained by direct-lift, rotary airfoils, and is particularly con cerned with helicopters, although, as hereinafter made apparent, it can equally Well be incorporated in autogiros, gyroplanes, and the like.

Antone-dent helicopters are incompletely stable, both statically and dynamically, and are especially unstable longitudinally. Those having a modicum of such stability, almost invariably permit but a limited range of the location of the design center of gravity. Beyond this range, the helicopter becomes as unstable as the archetype.

ey are difhcult to control and to trim, and have a restricted amount of maneuverability. For example, some helicopters are equilibrated or trimmed to compensate for imbalance by maintaining the rotor heads tilted throughout the flight. The amount of further movement thereof left available for maneuvering purposes is thereby seriously reduced. Rotor head tilting is also employed to trim such craft upon encountering" gusts, or other disturbances in the airstream. The latter practice necessitates substantially continual manipulation of the rotor-head control, restricting the degree of maneuverability and preeluding achievement of the much sought hands off condition.

In the conventional tandem rotor helicopter, the rotor disks lie in one and the same horizontal plane, with the rotor blades indexed, the rotors being driven by an interconnecting drive shaft. Consequently, if the rotors ole-phase, or if one ceases to rotate, collision occurs between the blades thereof. Moreover, in quite a number of attitudes of such craft, the downwash from one rotor impinges upon the other, or seriously disturbs the airstream entering same. .Such action reduces the eficiency of the affected rotor to an extent sometimes sufficient to render same ineffestive.

The housing and ground handling or" conventional helicopters is a rather difficult and expensive matter. Those which include rotors arranged laterally, or sideby-side, have sucha span in proportion to their length as to render housin relatively complex. Conventional tandem rotor helicopters ordinarily have such a relatively great length as to give rise to considerable difficulty in ground handling.

The present invention obviates all these disadvantages and provides an improved tandemrotor type, direct-rift aircraft which is ,so stable,

maneuver-able, and so satisfactory in every wing aircraft heretofore were only theoretically applicable.

To achieve these ends, the helicopter is, first of all, rendered completely stable longitudinally, both statically and dynamically. Briefly, to achieve static longitudinal stability, the center of gravity of the craft is so located and the aft liftunit is so constructed and operated as to have a blade loading coefficient, Ct/o', less than that of the forward unit. The blade loading coefiicient of a helicopter rotor is usually expressed as, Ct/o, which is the ratio of thrust coeincient, Ct, thereof, to its solidity ratio, a. The solidity ratio, 0', is the ratio of the actual area of the blades, to the rotor disk area. Th thrust coefiicient, Ct, can be derived from its quantitative equality to the mononomial,

wherein T is the developed thrust of the rotor in pounds, C represents air density in slugs/ftfi, W is the rotor angular velocity in radians per second, and D is its diameter in feet. Cz/cr thus is a function of the design and mode of operation of the rotor.

The presently preferred manner of bringing about the differential in blade loading coenicients of the rotors as mentioned above is to first determine a suitable diameter, blade planform, and rotational speed for the forward unit with the angle of attack of the blades so set as to pro duce the required lift. The diameter of the aft unit is preferably the same as or somewhat smaller than that of the forward unit, although this is not an essential requirement. The planform of the blades is similar to that of the blades of the forward unit, but the rear blades preferably have a slightly lower aspect ratio, resulting in a correspondingly higher solidity ratio.

The blades of the aft unit are set at an angle of attack less than that of the forward blades, preferably by several degrees, resulting in a lower thrust coefficient. In order to sustain the total load placed on the aft unit, it is rotated at a higher speed than the forward unit. It will be observed from a onsiderationof th f rmula above that the thrust coefiioient varies inversely as the rotational speed. Therefore, with the solidity ratios of the forward and, aft units determined, the desired result, Ct/ Zforward Ct/Gaft, is obtained by providing a lower angle of attack of the rotor blades and a higher rotational speed in the aft unit than in the forward unit.

Since the angle of attack of the forward blades is greater than that of the rearward blades, any given increment of pitching up of the nose of the craft will produce a smaller percentage increase of lift in the forward unit than in the aft unit. The excess lift in the aft unit will therefore raise the tail until the craft is again in horizontal trim. Similarly any pitching down of the nose of the craft will act in the reverse sense to lower the tail of the craft until it is again in horizontal trim.

One of the outstanding advantages of an aircraft built and operated in accordance with the present invention is that the center of gravity location can be varied throughout an extremely wide range while retaining not only balance but also static longitudinal stability. As the C. G. is moved rearwardly from any predetermined position, the total load on the forward unit decreases and the total load on the aft unit in creases. Balance is obtained by increasing the thrust of the aft unit through increase of the pitch or the rotational speed or both, but the pitch of the aft rotor is always maintained less than that of the forward rotor. of the aft unit is at all times held to a value less than that of the forward unit and therefore static longitudinal stability is maintained under all circumstances.

The craft will at the same time be endowed with dynamic longitudinal stability, by virtue of the differential in vertical velocities conferred on the rotors, when the craft pitches, by the longitudinal separation of the two differentially loaded rotors, having the above mentioned differential of blade-loading coefiicients.

By means made manifest hereinafter, the craft is also endowed with directional and lateral stability, of both the static, and the dynamic, variety.

These high degrees of stability render available an unusually wide range in the choice of location of the center of gravity, this range being restricted only to that in which the gravity-altered rotor thrusts remain such that the blade loading coefficient of the rear rotor is less than that of the forward rotor.

The helicopter dually includes control means providing a wide range of maneuverability, and trimming means which may be operated to trim the craft about all three axes without impairing maneuverability or requiring continual control operation. Certain maneuvers can be effected by collective pitch changes of the blades of the rtors and the other maneuvers can be accomplished by actual or virtual tilting of the rotor heads. The latter operation may be accomplished by suitable cyclic pitch changes. The sum total enables the craft to be flown in any desired direction in space, moving, in certain directions, parallel to itself in horizontal trim; in other directions, following its nose like an airplane; and is also capable of rearward movement, following its tail.

The craft may, if desired, be trimmed by merely changing the pitch of the rotor blades, either collectively or cyclically, instead of bodily tilting the entire rotor head as in prior helicopters.

The rear rotor lies in a horizontal plane elevated above that of the forward rotor, the blades of the two rotors overlapping longitudinally of the craft. The overall length of the helicopter is thereby reduced to the minimum possible for a tandem-type helicopter. Moreover, the blades of the rotor disk cannot collide upon the occurrence of rotor de-phasing or upon stoppage of one of By doing so, the Ct/o' the rotors, and the downwash from the forward rotor has but the minimum effect upon the rear rotor or upon the free airstream flowing to the rear rotor. Although the rear rotor overlaps the forward rotor and hence would theoretically have an advese aero-dynamic effect thereupon, actually its interference therewith is of the minimum order, except under unusual flight conditions or attitudes of the craft.

The power plant, the transmission system, and the control and trimming system are so constructed and arranged as to leave available in the fuselage, a relatively large volume of space for disposable loads, so that the commercial, as well as the military, desirability of helicoptertype aircraft is greatly enhanced by the present craft.

The other characteristics and accomplishments of the invention will be made manifest as this specification proceeds.

For the purpose of exemplifying the foregoing and other concepts, one of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in detail hereinafter. It is to be understood, how ever, that these drawings and this description are representative merely, the invention being limited in the embodiments which it can take, solely by the scope of the sub-joined claims.

In these drawings:

Figure l is a sectional plan view of the helicopter, showing in each lift-station but one of the plurality of rotors incorporatable in each such station.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional side view thereof;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a system employable for effecting blade pitch changes and for rotor head tilting to control and trim the craft, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail of a rotor head.

Referring more in detail to the construction shown in the drawings, the helicopter includes, as its basic structural member, a fuselage ill. The fuselage is partitioned, or otherwise suitably divided, into a pilots compartment ii in the nose thereof; a forward passenger compartment I 2 just aft of the pilots compartment; an engine room 13 located substantially medially of the length of the fuselage; an aft passenger compartment I 2a substantially identical with the forward passenger compartment; and a baggage compartment M extending from the aft end of the aft passenger compartment to the tail of the fuselage. The fuselage has cross-sectional and longitudinal contours corresponding closely with those of the most aerodynamically satisfactory airliners, and

accordingly has a generally pointed nose with an indentation providing visibility for the pilot; a substantially cylindrical central portion; a rearwardly pointed tail portion and intermediate surfaces smoothly aerodynamically merging the nose portion and the tail portion with the cylindrical central portion. The upper surface of the aft portion of the fuselage bears a fin I5, which may be continued forwardly and dorsally.

The helicopter may be provided either with a conventional landing gear or with the illustrated tricycle type landing gear, comprising a nose wheel I 6 mounted on a landing leg retractable forwardly and upwardly into a Wheel well, not shown, but located in the lower portion of the pilots compartment, substantially in the plane of symmetry of th fuselage. The other two wheels H of the tricycle landing gear are suitably connected to the vfuselage by collapsible landing legs so constructed as to permit retraction of these wheels into wheel wells 13 located in the upper 'outerportions of the engine room. wall.

The engine room contains a power plant l9, here shown as comprising two vertically disposed, in-line internal combustion engines each having a crankshaft ltd connected by suitable miter gearing [9b to a longitudinally extending driveshait 211. Located :at any suitable point on the drive shaft 29 is a continuously and universally variable, speed-change gear box 25a of any well known type suitable for the purpose, such as Transit-torque gear box, or its equivalent. The purpose of this variable speed gear unit is to enable rotation of thatportion of shaft is which lies aft of the box at speeds diifering from those of th front portion of the shaft, in order to enable the aft rotor, usually rotating in the opposite direction from the forward rotor, to be turned at speedsequal to, greater than, or less than, those of the iorward rotor, according to the chosen center of gravity location, in order to vary the concomitantblade-loading coefficients as desired. A forward rotor 21 :is mounted near the nose of the fuselage substantially vertically above the pilotfs station and another rotor 22 is mounted near the tail of the fuselage closely adjacent the crown of in i5. The'forward rotor unit includes a rotor shaft :23 suitably rotatably supported in thrust and radial bearings mounted in the structural framework of the fuselage. The aft rotor includesiarctor shaft is similarly suitably mounted and supported :in the framework of the .aft portion of the fuselage. Each rotor shaft, at its lower end, is connected to the longitudinally extending driyeshoaft 28, as by means of miter gears .25. Again, if desired, the drive shaft 26 may be connected to the engine shafts by movable drive couplings, not shown but of any suitable conventional type, in order to enable the power plant to be shifted to any desired location lengthwise of the fuselage, whereby to enable varying the center of gravity location from the designed location thereof ,it it is desired to thus trim the craft.

The rotor shaftsginthe example illustrated, are disposedin the p-laneof symmetry of the fuselage, that is, in the vertically-lying, longitudinally extending, central plane of the body. Each shaft has .a forward tilt-of the same degree, and in the a exemplary embodiment, of a value on the order of so that both rotor disks are normally inclined forwardly to thereby provide forwardly directed flight.

The hub of the forward rotor head supports three .rotor blades 25, each having substantially the properties and configuration of enlarged conventional auto-rotative helicopter sustaining airioils, but having a higher L/Dratio and c'mciency, and flexible longitudinally. These airfoils may be of the framed, or fabricated types, if desired. The swept area, or disk, of this rotor is inclined forwardly and downwardly, as mentioned. The blades are normally all of the same diameter, plan form, airfoil sectional contour, and other aerodynamic characteristics.

The hub of the rotor and the roots of the blades are constructed in such manner as to enable the blades to be axially rotated in their mountings in the hub to thereby vary their pitch or angle of attack through a wide range, either in -the positive sense .or in the negative sense, .and either collectively or cyclically, the cyclic pitch changing means :not being shown. Means operable by the pilot for effecting these rotations of the blades about their longitudinai axes and tor bodily or actually'tilting the rotor head are described hereinafter in connection with a description of the manner of controlling and trimming the craft. It is to be understood that the invention also contemplates virtual tilting of the rotor heads, by any of the well-known means available for this purpose.

The hub of the rear rotor similarly supports threerotor blades 21. These blades are all of the same length, and are essentially like the blades 26, in airfoil cross section and construction. However, blades 2! are shorter and wider than blades 2.5., by an amount approximately 5% thereof, in the examplershown, and the rear rotor has a higher-solidity ratiogand a lower C's/a than the forward rotor. The rear rotor is provided with control means similar to those provided for the forward rotor, for effecting collective and cyclic pitch changes of its blades.

The fixed axed-disposable loads of the craft are preferably so located as to dispose the center of gravity somewhat ahead of the midpoint between the axes of the rotors, to assist in causing the rear rotor to operate at .a lower blade loading coefficientthan that of the front rotor. The normal rang of location of the C. G. .is from 20% to about 50% of thedistance between the rotors so that the forward rotor sustains from about 86% down to about 50% of the total helicopter weight, while the aft rotor sustains from about 20% up to about 56% of the total weight. It is to be understood that the center of gravity can be displaced aft of this 501% point, if desired, if the rear rotor is, under this condition, overspceded or has its angle of incidence increased to compensate in accordance with the shift in the location of the center of gravity.

The features that confer differential blade loading coefficients on the rotors endow the craft with static and dynamic stability of a high order. For example, the provision of a lower blade loading coefficient, 'Ct/O in the rear rotor than the forward one, confers upon the craft inherent staticlongitudinal stability. Hence, as explained aboye, when the tail of the craft is thrown upwardly by a gust, bump, or the like, the rear rotor undergoes a larger percentage of decrease of lift'than does the forward rotor, although the angle of attack of the .bladeso-f each rotor is de creased by the same amount.

This follows from the fact that the blade loading .coefiicierrt of the rear rotor is made less than that of the forward rotor by properly relating the sizes, shapes, angles of attack, and rotational speeds as explained "more :in detail in the preamble. When the craft pitches, the attitude of each rotor changes the same total amount :and consequently the rotor having :the lesser unit blade loading coefficient "experiences a greater percentage change in lift. Since the relation of the moment arms remains the same, the relative li-ftmoment of the rear rotor with respect to that of the "forward rotor decreases and thus allows the .tailiof the oraitxto sink back to. the horizontal trimmed attitude. When the tail of the craft is depressed bye-gust, bump, or the like,'the angle of attack of each rotor is increased by the same amount, :but the percentage of increase of the lift coefilcient occurring in the rear rotor will be greater than the percentage of increase thereof in theatront rotor. Accordingly, the tail will rise, restoring the craft to the horizontally trimmed attitude, :and the dynamic stability will prevent hunting thereof.

Dynamic longitudinal stability is built into the craft and will, by damping the longitudinal restoring moments described above, prevent its oscillating about its horizontal trim-position, or hunting, during the aforedescribed actions. This damping is provided by virtue of the differential in the vertical velocities of the rotors, conferred upon the rotors when the craft pitches, by the longitudinal separation of the two rotors having differentiated blade-loading coefficients. When the craft is being restored to trim by this separation and differential blade loading coefiicient of the rotors, the relatively high vertical velocity tendency of the lightly loaded rear rotor confers upon it, among other things, a greater percentage of increase of resistance todisplacement from restored trim position than is conferred upon the forward rotor, that is; the restoring, unbalanced thrust of the rear rotor is returning to the balanced amount at a more rapid rate than the thrust of the forward rotor, and the thrust of both rotors reaches proper balance at the instant of returning to trim position, the result being a damping of the tendency to oscillate or hunt. Moreover, the differential in vertical velocities causes the rear rotor to lose lift more rapidly than the forward rotor, so that although the tail of the statically stable craft may tend to continue upwardly, or dynamically oscillate or hunt after having been restored by its longitudinal static I stability to longitudinal trim from a lowered position, it will instead immediately sink back to trimmed position. All the oscillations from horizontal of the statically equilibrated craft that would otherwise occur, are thereby reduced to zero at their inception. These influences are supplemented by the damping effect of the large total horizontal-plate equivalent of the rotor disks.

The fin I and its dorsal extension provide static directional stability of a sufiicient magnitude to counteract ordinary yawing moments. If desired, however, both rotor heads may be tilted laterally in opposite directions to augment the basic stability provided by the fin construction and arrangement, and they then overcome extraordinary yawing moments. Dynamic directional stability may be provided by these sarne means, supplemented by the relatively large keel area, or vertical plate equivalent of the projected side area, of the relatively long fuselage, of the fin, and of the rotors.

Lateral stability, about the fore-and-aft axis, is provided by the fact that the craft is sustained by the two rotors in a pendular condition, sus-' pended from the upwardly-coning rotor disks, i

each of which includes an appreciable lateral dihedral angle equivalent. This dihedral angle functions in a manner similar to the dihedral angle of airplane wings.

Control of the craft for most maneuvering purposes is preferably effected by bodily tilting the rotor heads in those directions which produce the necessary forward, rearward or lateral com.- ponents of the rotor thrust. For effecting upward or downward translation parallel to itself, however, means are provided for collectively changing the pitch of the blades in both rotors in the same positive or negative sense and to the same degree, while for pitching the craft forwardly or rearwardly or moving same forwardly or rearwardly in a diving or climbing maneuver, collective pitch changes, differential as between rotors, are effected, although the latter maneuverings may be, if desired, effected by bodily tilting the rotor di ks or virtually tilting themthrough suit- 8 able well-known cyclic pitch changes of the rotor blades.

A representational showing of a control system suitable for implementing the aforesaid concepts is presented in Figure 3, in which the rotor drive shafts may be constituted by the shafts 23.

The simplest maneuver, that of ascending or descending the craft parallel to itself, is effected by backward or forward movement of a control column 28, disposed near the pilot, the movements of which column respectively collectively increase the pitch of the blades of both rotors to the same degree and collectively decrease same. To this end, the lower end of column 28 is pivotally mounted on suitable fuselage structure and bears a right-angled arm 29 to the rearward end of which is pivoted the lower end of a link 30. The upper end of this link is pivoted to the forward arm 3| of a four-armed star crank 32, rotatably and slidably mounted on adjacent framing in the fuselage, not shown. To the upper arm 33 of the star crank is pivotally attached the one end of a link 34, the other end of which is pivotally connected to the lower arm of a bellcrank 35. To the other arm of this bell-crank a vertically extending, flexible, push-pull member such as a Bowden wire or Ahrens cable 36 in the forward rotor is pivotally attached. The lower arm 31 of the star crank has a rearwardly extending link 38 attached thereto. This link leads to a bell-crank 39 adapted to operate a cable similar to cable 36 and designated 40 in the rear rotor. The members 36 and 40 extend operatively through the shafts 20. The upper end of each of the vertical members 36 and 40 pivotally supports a three-armed cross-head 4|, from the outer end of each arm of which depends an operating link 42. The lower end of each link 42 is pivotally connected to a suitable arm 43 on the entering edge of each rotor blade.

With this construction and arrangement of parts, collective pitch increase in both rotors is achieved by a pull upon column 28, resulting in tensioning link rotating star crank 32 counterclockwise, compressioning link 34, rotating bellcrank clockwise and elevating the member 36, concurrently compressioning link 38, rotating crank 39 counterclockwise, and elevating member 40. The shifting of the vertical members terminates in a lifting of the entering edge of each of the rotor blades, to the same degree, by means of the links 42 and arms 43.

Collective pitch decrease in both rotors is effected by pushing column 28, instead of pulling same, thus reversing the action of the aforedescribed linkage.

Turning left or right in the horizontal plane is accomplished by operating pedals 44 and 35, respectively. thereby actuating a cable and linkage system operatively associated therewith. In order to effectuate a left-turn, pedal 44 is pushed forwardly, thereby tensioning a cable 46 suitably led to the forward arm 4! of a four-armed star crank 48 suitably mounted, in a slot 49 in the fuselage, for both rotation and bodily displacement. The resultant counterclockwise rotation of the star crank tensions a link 5!] pivotally attaohed to its lower arm, causing counterclockwise rotation of a bell-crank 5|, to the forward arm of which is connected a link 52. The upper end of the link 52 is connected to the left side of a hub 53. This hub is, by means of trunnion 53a, mounted for lateral tilting, to the left and right, in seats 53b in a casing 54 which is fixed .to

"accuses sub-adjacent fuselage structure. Thus, the downward motion of the link 52 will tilt the hub leftwardly, therefore tilting the forward rotor bodily to the left. Concurrently, the counterclockwise rotation of the star crank pulls a link 55 attached to the upper arm of the star, rotates a bell-crank. Q clockwise, and pushes up a link 51 attached to the left side of a hub 58 which is similar to the aforementioned hub and similarly mounted in the rear rotor, thus tilting the rear rotor bodily to the right. The oppositelyacting horizontal components of the leftward'ly and rightwardly inclined rotor thrusts, of course, constitute a couple acting to turn the nose of the craft leftward in the horizontal plane, the craft thus executing a left-turn while remaining in longitudinal and lateral trim.

A cable 5% is operatively interposed between the right pedal 65 and the rear arm of the star crank it, whereby same rotated in the reverse direction when the right pedal is pushed, thereby eventually tilting the forward rotor-hub and disk to the right and the rear rotor hub to the left. A rightwardly or clockwise acting couple is thereby set up around the center of gravity of the craft, effectuating a right turn thereof, the craft remaining in longitudinal and lateral trim.

Means are provided for bodily simultaneously tilting the rotor heads laterally in the same direction, in order to bodily translate the craft rightwardly or leftwardly parallel to itself or to bank the craft right or left, depending respectively upon whether the rotor disks are tilted only a small amount or a large amount. To these ends, a wheel Ell is rigidly attached to a horizontal shaft 5i axially rotatably mounted in fuselage structure adjacent the pilots station. An arm 52 is rigidly attached to the shaft and extends laterally therefrom. A link 53 is pivotally connected at the one end to this arm and at the other, to the upper arm of a bell-crank 6i, suitably mounted on adjacent fusela e Struotu e. The lower arm of the bell crank is pivotally connected to the center of the star crank by means of a connector link 55. Thus, turning wheel 60 to the left slides the four-armed star crank 48 rearwardly in the slot, tensioning link 553 and ultimately, through the crank 5i and rod 52, tilting the hub and rotor disk of the forward rotor to the left. At the same time, the rearward movement of the star crank 48 in its slot subjects link 55 to compression, turning the bell-crank 56 in the counterclockwise direction and hence pulling the leftward half of the hub 58 downwardly, thus tilting the rear rotor leftwardly also. The leftwardly directed horizontal components of the thrust of the rotors, will, if the wheel is turned only a slight amount, effectuate leftward translation of the craft, whereas if the wheel is rotated widely, a left bank will ensue, which can be employed either to trim the craft laterally, whereafter the wheel is restored to neutral, or to enable observation over the left :side of the craft.

Reverse rotation of the wheel 60 will, of course, efiect rightward translation of the craft parallel to itself, or accomplish a right bank, since both rotor disks are thereby tilted to the right.

The shaft 6! is also mounted to permit axial displacement of it and the wheel carried thereby, both forwardly and rear-wardly. A forward push of the wheel will pitch the craft forwardly, forward end downward, the helicopter pitching forward, moving forward horizontally, or climbing, depending upon the power employed in the re- 10 tors, and upon the extent to. which th contro is urged forwardly.

Means for implementing this concept comprise an extension 6-6 of the. shaft El, pivotally connected. to. the upper end of lever 61. Lever 6 is rotatably mounted in its medial portion on fuselage. structure, and its lower end is connected to the center of the slidable four-arm crank 32 by means of a link B8. Thus, forward movement of the wheel results in rearward sliding of the our-a m cran in t si nin o li k 34 an 1- timately. in educed h o a l th bl d s of the fo ward rotor. Concur n ly. h ea movement of; the fiourearm link pushes link 38 rearwardly and increases the pitch of all the blades of. thereo otor Th resultant e e is less ned ift on th f wardrot and u m n lift in the rear rotor, producing the desired amount of for-ward pitch, of the craft. to enable, according to the rotor-power employed, diving, horizontal forward flight, or climbing.

In o de o pi ch ckward to e b t s able rotor-speed variation, rearward pitching, rearward horizontal movement, or rearward climbing, the. wheel respectively, pulled back a slight amount, a grea'ter amount, or a still greater a ount. n any o hese cas s n me'e i n 55. rotatin lever 61 cl thw -sa sliding t fourrm cr nk. 32 forw r y n its 510i u ing link 34 forwardly, and rotat n bell-crank 35 clockwise, thus effecting increase of pitch in, the forward rotor. At the same time, the mechanism shown accomplishes a decrease'of pitch in the rear rotor, thus effecting the desired rearward pitching, which can be transformed into rearward horizontal movement, diving, or climbing by suitable use of rotor speed as aforesaid.

If desired, the wheel and shaft may be replaced by a conventional control stick. The linkage is then suitably rearranged to transform the forward and backward tilting of the stick into the desired rotor blade pitch changes.

The invention also contemplates that, instead of effecting forward or rearward pitchin by effecting pitch change of all the blades of each rotor but diiferentially as between rotors, same may be accomplished by tilting the rotor disks forwardly or rearwardly, either bodily or virtually, the latter by suitable known mechanism for eifecting cyclic longitudinal pitch change in each rotor.

Autorotation of the rotors may also be accomplished, to effect a parachute-like descent of the craft. To this end, the rotor heads may be uncoupled from the rotor shaft by clutch means, not shown, but of any suitable conventional type. When so uncoupled, the rotors will be windmilled by the relative wind of descent, producing sufficient lift to preclude a stall, a dive, or a toorapid loss of altitude.

The plane of rotation of the rear rotor is elevated a considerable distance above that of the forward rotor, so that although the two disks overlap, no indexing of the blades is required in order to prevent collision. By virtue of the same construction, the rotors may, if desired, be rotated in the same direction,- instead of oppositely, as shown. In this case, rotor torque can be counteracted by inclining the rotor heads sufficiently widely in laterally opposite directions,

The diifere-ntial elevation of the rotor disks also minimizes downwash of t-h-efron-t rot-or onto the rear rotor and minimizes interference thereof with the airstrearn flowing to that rotor. In all attitudes of the craft, therefore, the effect of 11 the aerodynamics of one rotor upon the aerodynamics of the other is reduced to inconsequential proportions.

It is to be observed that no part of the power plant, the transmission system, or the control and trimming system occupies an undue portion of the volume of the fuselage. Consequently, an unusually large amount of space is left available for disposable loads.

Various refinements in and ramifications of the disclosed parts, and in the arrangement and combination thereof, are contemplated by the inventive concepts, and all are to be understood as lying within the scope of the sub-joined claims.

We claim:

1. A helicopter, includingdirect-lift sustaining rotor units arranged in tandem, the rotor units having differential blade-loading coefilcients, the lesser loaded rotor unit being located aftward of the other rotor unit, whereby, upon longitudinal pitching of the craft, restoring moments are created by said differentially-loaded sustaining rotor units which automatically re turn the craft to its original longitudinal trim.

2. In an aircraft, at least one direct-lift sus taining rotor unit situated near the forward end of the longitudinal axis thereof; and at least one direct-lift sustaining rotor unit situated near the aft end of said axis and having a lower bladeloading coefficient than that of the forward sustaining rotor unit.

3. In a helicopter, at least one direct-lift sustaining rotor unit situated near the forward end of the longitudinal axis thereof; and at least one direct-lift sustaining rotor unit situated near the aft end of said axis; the blades of the aftward rotor-unit having a lesser angle of incidence, and a lesser inherent or built-in thrust coefficient and a normally greater angular velocity, than the blades of the forward rotor-unit, whereby the aftward rotor while normally being rotated to produce a total thrust equal to that of the forward rotor, is enabled to undergo a greater percentage of change of lift in pitching than is the front rotor thereby to longitudinally automatically stabilize the helicopter.

4. In a helicopter, a direct-lift sustaining unit situated near the forward end of the longitudinal axis thereof and a direct-lift sustaining unit situated near the aft end of said axis, the aft unit being endowed with a smaller blade loading coefficient and total loading than the forward lift unit and being located at a greater distance from the center of gravity than said forward unit, so as to have a vertical velocity in pitch greater than that of the forward lift unit, whereby to confer dynamic longitudinal stability upon the craft.

5. A longitudinally stable helicopter comprising: a fuselage having a center of gravity subject to wide variation of location in response to variations of useful loading of the fuselage; direct lift rotors mounted on said fuselage ahead of and behind the center of gravity, the rear rotor having an inherent ratio of total blade area to disk area greater than that of the front rotor; means for setting the effective angle of incidence of the blades of the rear motor to maintain it always less than that of the blades of the front rotor; and means for variably driving the rear rotor at rotational speeds always greater than those of the forward rotor; thereby to provide automatic longitudinal stability adequate to enable the useful load location of the center of gravity to be varied within a sufiiciently wide 12 range to enable employment of the helicopter to transport widely varying loads of both passengers and cargo.

6. A longitudinally stable helicopter comprising: a fuselage having a center of gravity subject to wide variation of location in response to variations of useful loading of the fuselage; direct lift rotors mounted on said fuselage ahead of and behind the center of gravity, the rear rotor having an inherent ratio of total blade area to disk area greater than that of the front rotor and a thrust coefiicient less than that of the front rotor; means for setting the effective angle of incidence of the blades of the rear rotor to maintain it always less than that of the blades of the front rotor; and means for variably driving the rear rotor at rotational speeds always greater than those of the forward rotor; thereby to provide automatic longitudinal stability adequate to enable the useful load location of the center of gravity to be varied within a sufficiently wide range to enable employment of the helicopter to transport widely varying loads of both passengers and cargo.

'7. A longitudinally stable helicopter comprising: a fuselage having a center of gravity subject to wide variation of location in response to variations of useful loading of the fuselage; direct lift rotors mounted on said fuselage ahead of and. behind the center of gravity, the forward rotor normally lying closer to the center of gravity than the rear rotor, the rear rotor having an inherent ratio of total blade area to disk area greater than that of the front rotor; means for setting the effective angle of incidence of the blades of the rear rotor to maintain it always less than that of the blades of the front rotor; and means for variably driving the rear rotor at rotational speeds always greater than those of the forward rotor; thereby to provide automatic longitudinal stability adequate to enable the useful load location of the center of gravity to be varied within a sufficiently wide range to enable employment of the helicopter to transport widely varying loads of both passengers and cargo.

8. A longitudinally dynamically stable helicopter, comprising: a fuselage having a tail; direct lift rotors mounted on said fuselage ahead of and behind the center of gravity, the rear rotor having a longer moment arm about the center of gravity than the front rotor and a consequently greater angular bodily velocity in pitch than the forward rotor and having a diameter approximately the same as that of the forward rotor, a higher ratio of blade area to disk area than the forward rotor, and an angular velocity greater than that of the forward rotor all cooperating to confer a lower density loading on the rear rotor than on the front rotor; whereby the product of the changing lift of the pitching rear rotor as it approaches horizontal multiplied by its moment arm, coupled with the horizontal plate drag of the rear rotor, damp out potential oscillations of the tail about the horizontal trim position arising from the longitudinal restoring moments consequent upon the inherent longitudinal staticstability of the helicopter.

9. In a helicopter, a direct-lift sustaining rotor-unit situated near the forward end of the longitudinal axis of the craft and a direct-lift sustaining rotor unit situated near the aft end of the longitudinal axis of the craft, the latter unit having a lesser blade angle of incidence and blade loading coefficient than the former unit so as to enable the two rotor units to longitudinally stabilize the craft; the center of gravity of the craft normally lying closer to the forward rotor-unit than it is to the rearward rotor unit so as to normally load the first-said unit with more of the total weight of the helicopter than is carried by the second-said unit; a source of power drivingly connected to said rotor-units so as to normally drive the aftward, lower bladeloaded rotor-unit at a sufficiently greater angular velocity than that of the forward rotor-unit to establish the normal longitudinal trim of the helicopter; and power-increasing means operatively connected to the aftward rotor and operable, when the crafts center of gravity is shifted rearwardly by changes in the location of the useful load of the craft, to increase the angular velocity of the rearward rotor sufficiently above normal to restore the longitudinal trim or the craft thereby to enable the craft to incorporate a wide range of location of its center of gravity.

AUSTIN B. CROSHERE, JR. SCHUYLER KLEINHANS. CARLOS C. WOOD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Publication: Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, for June 1942, pp. 309-311, (Copy in Division 22).

Young, Helicopter Press, N. Y., 1949.

Engineering. Ronald Page 46. 

